


Secrets of the Disney World

by KeybladeDetweiler



Series: Secrets of the Disney World [2]
Category: Disney - All Media Types, Epic Mickey, Gravity Falls, Jonny Quest, Recess
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Magic Kingdom, No shipping between the main characters, OC, Secrets of the Disney World, Walt Disney World
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2018-03-09 08:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3243335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeybladeDetweiler/pseuds/KeybladeDetweiler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In order to take control of the Magic Kingdom, the Disney villains must withdraw the sword from the stone. Or, so they have been told. They find the young boy who can do it, but are found out by a teenage girl named Alex, who with the help of some new friends, will go on a quest to stop them before they follow through with their plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Somewhere, deep underneath the Magic Kingdom, Jafar sat staring at his hourglass, trying to figure out who could the pull sword from the stone that sat in the center of Fantasyland.

“Has that silly sand shaker shown you the one who can pull the sword from it’s stone?” Maleficent asked him. She had entered the room so silently that he hadn’t noticed her.

“Oh, you startled me Maleficent! No, it hasn’t shown me- wait, look! It's coming in right now!” Jafar replied. Inside the hourglass appeared an image of a young boy, who was currently on a beach playing with his brother and his pet dog.   

“Who in the world is that?” said a puzzled Iago, who was perched on Jafar’s shoulder. “He doesn’t look anything like the kid in the Sword in the Stone movie!”

Maleficent’s eyes widened. “I know who he is. That's Jonny Quest! Son of Dr. Benton Quest!” she said.

“Who?!” Iago yelled. Jafar quickly stuffed a few crackers down Iago’s throat to shut him up.

“So…he is the one.” Jafar looked at Maleficent and continued. “How will we get them to come to the resort? Call and tell them they’ve won a free vacation?”

Maleficent smiled. “No. We’ll use the Genie.” she replied with a laugh.

Iago spit out the crackers. “Isn’t the Genie off limits for us - ack!”

Jafar had grabbed hold of Iago’s neck, and heatedly threw him to the ground. Maleficent looked at Iago with a frown, and answered his question.

“I already have the lamp in my possession. That imbecile Aladdin doesn’t even know that it’s gone.” She withdrew the lamp from her robes. Jafar took it from her hands and began to rub it fiendishly. The Genie soon came out with a stretch.

“Ok Al, what do you- Jafar? Maleficent? Why did you- oh never mind, what do you need?” he sighed.

“Only a small favor.” Maleficent said. “We need you to go to Palm Key, island home of Dr. Quest and his family, and tell the residents that they are needed at Walt Disney World. Then escort them to the Contemporary Resort. Once you have completed this task, you may go back to your street rat.” she finished.

“Fine,” Genie said with a huff.

He disappeared from their presence, and reappeared on Palm Key, island home of the Quests, now in the form of a somewhat shady-looking businessman.

“Nice place. Nice, and private too!” he remarked.

Jonny, Hadji, Race, and Bandit were on the beach for the boys’ daily studies when they spotted Genie. Bandit began to bark wildly.

“Hey, who’s that big blue guy Bandit’s barking at?” Jonny asked, pointing down the beach at Genie, who’s disguise had failed to hide his most notable feature: his very unusual skin pigmentation.

“I don’t know, Jonny. He sure is a strange character, though, whoever he is.” Hadji replied.

Back down at the other end of the beach, Genie began to head over towards them. Bandit was now bolting towards him, teeth bared. He would not allow any harm to come to his master.

“Bandit! Come back here, boy! Don’t bite him!” Jonny yelled at the dog.

“Nice doggie, good doggie. I’m not a big blue chew toy!” Genie said, trying to block the oncoming canine with his fake briefcase. Luckily for him, Jonny managed to catch up with the dog, and quickly scooped him up and held him in his arms. He looked up at Genie.

“Sorry about Bandit. He’s not too friendly around strangers.” The boy said with an apologetic smile.

“No kidding.” Genie said. “Well, I might as well get down to business: I need all of you to come with me. I was sent here because Dr. Quest is needed for something.”

“What? And where is he needed, exactly?” Race asked, coming up behind Jonny and crossing his arms.

“Um,” Genie began. He had not been told what he should tell them, so he quickly improvised.

“He’s needed at a... a research lab up at Epcot in Central Florida. I have hotel accommodations and tickets all ready, and even a signed document containing all the information, just in case you aren’t convinced!” He opened his briefcase to show the bodyguard.

Race examined the papers, thought for a moment, and then got out his communicator and flipped it on. Dr. Quest’s face appeared on the screen.

“Yes, Race?” the man asked.

“There’s a strange man here who says you’re needed up at Epcot for something.”

“Really?”

“Yes!” Genie said. “For a very special project. They need Dr. Quest’s help specifically!”

“I did get a letter not long ago asking for some help with a new attraction...that must be what this is all about.” Dr. Quest said, thinking aloud. “Tell the boys to get packed. We’ll leave as soon as we can.”

Genie continued. “I was told that I have to escort you there myself. No ifs, ands, or buts.”

“Well…I suppose that’s fine.”

Then Jonny piped up. “Hey dad, can Bandit come?”

“I don’t think so, Jonny. Says here that the hotel doesn’t allow dogs.” Race said, examining the papers.

“Aw, man.”

“It’s all right, son. I’ll find someone to look after Bandit while we’re gone.” Dr. Quest said from over the communicator.

* * *

 

As soon as everyone was packed, Race started up the Dragonfly, the Quests’ private jet. Soon, after landing at Orlando International Airport and taking a bus to the resort, and then a monorail, they had arrived at the Contemporary hotel.

“Now all you have to do is show them these, and you’re all set.” Genie said, handing Dr. Quest the rest of papers.

“Very well. Thank you, and goodbye.” Dr. Quest said with a small smile.

“Goodbye!” Jonny and Hadji called as Genie took off.

He waved back, but a surge of guilt came over him. He knew he had put those boys in danger. But he had had no choice. At least he hadn’t really been lying; Ludwig Von Drake had mentioned not long ago that he was planning to call Dr. Quest to ask him for help with some kind of new technology for the parks. He looked back at the family one last time to discover that the boys had already found themselves a new friend, a girl who was checking in with her parents.

* * *

 

Genie returned to Jafar and Maleficent and said, “It’s done. Now, send me back to Al, or I’ll report you to the Genie Guild!”

Maleficent sent the lamp back with a flash of green flames, and then went over to a phone in the corner of the room.

“Hello, yes? I need to speak with the manager of the Contemporary hotel. Hello, manager? It’s me, Maleficent. I need to know which room the Quest group is in. 4247? Thank you. Leave a room key for whomever I send, all right? Thank you.”

After that first call had concluded, she called another number. It was the Coachman’s, owner of Pleasure Island and an expert kidnapper.

“If you’ll arrange for some men to get into room 4247 at the Contemporary, and kidnap the two boys that are there, I’ll pay you handsomely.” She said to him.

The Coachman’s voice could just barely be heard from the speaker of the phone.

“Alright then. You got a key for the room?” he asked.

“It will be waiting at the check in desk. Tell them to say ‘Leffy’ sent them.”

“Fine then. They’ll be there.”

“Thank you, coachman.”


	2. Chapter 2

That night, the Coachman’s men took the monorail from the Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary. When the train stopped in the Grand Canyon Concourse, the pair headed for the lobby, then went up to the desk and asked for the manager, who came out of his office furious. He’d been trying all day to finish a crossword puzzle, and it was the fifth time that evening that he had been interrupted.

“What do you want?” he snapped. “I’m busy!”

The first of the men came into the light of the check in desks, finally visible to the manager. It was Horace, one of Cruella DeVil’s two goons. Cruella stepped in behind him, along with Jasper. She had been waiting in the lobby for her goons, almost unnoticeable.

“Leffy sent us.” she said. The Manager’s look of anger changed into a sly smile.

“Ah, Cruella. Here’s the key. By the way, you’d better hurry.” he said quickly. He motioned to some security footage on a screen next to him, and Cruella and her goons realized that Dr. Quest and Race were departing from an Epcot monorail at that very moment.

“Horace, Jasper,” Cruella said in a hushed tone. “You need to get up to room 4247 before they do, or we’ll be too late!” Horace and Jasper immediately headed for the elevators.

Cruella then headed back to the concourse, and headed over to a snack counter. When she looked to see who was running the stand, she found that she was face to face with a perky Contemporary Cast Member who had a bright smile and a happy aura.

Cruella sighed heavily at this saccharine display, and then asked, “Could you give those two men some coffee, on me?” she asked, pointing to Dr. Quest and Race, who were standing next to the nearby longue area. “Tell them it was from a ‘friend’.”

“Of course, ma’am!” the perky Cast Member said. After paying the woman, Cruella turned to leave, but not before the Cast Member at the desk could yell out, in a voice that almost made Cruella sick:

“Have a _magical_ night, Ma’am!”

Cruella turned about face, strolled up to the Cast Member, and holding in her anger, said in the nicest voice that she could manage, “Thank you. I will.”

The Cast Member got two cups of coffee, and walked over and handed them to Dr. Quest and Race, who decided that the boys could take care of themselves for just a moment longer, and sat down in the comfy lounge chairs.

* * *

 

By this time, Horace and Jasper had made their way up to the sixth floor of the hotel. They walked quickly, wanting to get the job done as fast as they could.

Horace looked to Jasper, after the two of them had made a brief stop in front of room 4245, and asked, “Do you think ol’ Maleficent will actually pay us for kidnapping these two brats?”

Jasper laughed and said, “I doubt it. I heard she’s as greedy as Scrooge McDuck. And I also heard that she was only paying the Coachman and Cruella for this. We’re just goons; we’re not worth paying, to her.”

* * *

 

Inside room 4245, Alex, a girl who had arrived at Disney at about the same time the Quests’ had, was standing by the door, eavesdropping on the two men on the other side. She had just been getting ready to go out to see if she could find herself some dinner, when she overheard the pair talking in the hall.

She wondered if she knew whom they had been talking about when they had said, “Two brats”; she had met Jonny and Hadji while waiting for her parents to check in. While talking with them, she had found out that they’d be on the same floor as her, in a room close by, and had asked if they wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom with her the next day. They had said yes, after getting their guardians’ permission, and had plans to meet for breakfast.

Right now, her parents were at Disney Springs enjoying an evening together, which left her alone in the room. Jonny and Hadji had been in their room all day as well; Dr. Quest and Race had had to go to Epcot for business, and they weren’t allowed to come along, apparently.

She and the boys had been hanging out in the lobby together for a while, until the hotel manager had come up to them and scolded her harshly with a snappish “Stay away from Dr. Quest’s boys.”. Then, he had rudely escorted her and the boys back up to their rooms. She wondered if perhaps he was involved with the two men who were now outside her door.

Alex soon realized that she had to act, right then and there, or possibly risk losing her new friends. Even if they weren’t the ones being targeted, it still wasn’t a totally bad idea to check. She quickly flung open the door of her room, only to see an empty hallway. She heard the “click” of the door to room 4247. The men had made it in.

* * *

 

Jonny and Hadji were sitting in their hotel room, still waiting for Dr. Quest and Race, when Horace and Jasper slid in quietly. The door shut behind them with a loud “click”, alerting Jonny to their presence, although he thought it was only his father and Race.

“Dad? Race?” Jonny asked, turning to see who it was. Horace then quickly lunged toward him, grabbing hold of him, while Jasper went for Hadji.

“Hey!” Jonny yelled at Horace. “Let me go!”

Horace and Jasper were trying hard to keep the struggling boys from escaping. “Run, Jonny!” Hadji yelled, but he was then stopped by the quick hand of Jasper, which covered his mouth at almost lighting speed. Horace, who mimicked Jasper’s move exactly, silenced Jonny. They held the boys close enough so that they could cover their cries of help, while keeping their holds on them. Cruella then entered the room, and nodded her head in approval. The party then walked out of the room, trying their hardest not to make any noise.

* * *

 

Alex had barely managed to hide herself behind the now-open door, in hopes of stopping the kidnappers. As they started to come out the door, she realized that she had no idea what to do. So, she did the first thing that came to mind and gave Jasper a kick in the shin. He winced in pain, although still firmly keeping his grip on Jonny, and then used his one free hand to give Alex a hard strike on the face. She fell back in pain and cried out, alerting the attention of a room service employee who was at the end of the hallway. Horace, Jasper, and Cruella then made a break for it down the hall, and were practically gone by the time the employee had spotted them. She quickly ran to get Security.

Alex, holding her hand over the place where she had been struck, began to run after them. Kicking hadn’t worked, so she decided to make noise.

“Come back here! Bring them back!” she yelled. She grabbed a corner of Cruella’s coat and held on tightly. Cruella was slowed, and turned to see what had caught her coat.

“You let go of my coat, little brat! It’s mink!” Cruella screeched.

“I’m not letting go until you let _them_ go!” Alex said, nodding towards where Horace and Jasper stood with the boys. Cruella pushed Alex back, tearing the coat and causing the girl to tumble backwards.

Alex, sprawled out on the floor of the hall, watched as Cruella and her motley crew disappeared down the hall with Jonny and Hadji in tow.


	3. Chapter 3

The scuffle had not gone unnoticed. Contemporary hotel guests had come out of their rooms, and had all crowded around Alex moments after the incident, all of them asking her about what had happened and if she was all right. Anxious, she pushed her way through, all the while telling them that she was fine and just needed to be left alone. Eventually, all of them went back to their rooms except for the room service employee who had seen the tail end of the ordeal. She asked Alex to come with her to Security.

* * *

The officers, two men in their late forties, had plenty of questions for Alex about everything that had happened. They had footage of the whole event, and played it through a few times. The first man, an African-American with a scruffy mustache, looked at Alex and began to quiz her.

“Do you know those boys?” he asked.

“Uh…yes, sir. We just met today.”

“What are their names?” the other man, who was tan with dark hair, asked her.

“The blonde one, well, that’s Jonny Quest. And the other boy is Hadji, Jonny’s friend.”

The guard’s face grew worried, and then he reached for the phone that lay beside the monitors. He punched in a number, and urgently began to speak into the receiver. He rambled on and on, mostly about needing to see Dr. Quest as soon as possible, until he finally hung up. He then took a gulp of his espresso, and turned back to Alex.

“Don’t you know who these boys are?” he said sternly, his face scrunched up in anger.

Alex gulped silently, then continued.

“Well…not really. But, I thought it’d be interesting to get to know them. They’ve been nice so far. Anyway…I don’t know what you mean; are they rich kids, or royalty or something?” she asked.

“Miss,” the guard said. “These are the boys of Dr. Benton Quest, a high profile scientist who is here at Disney for a top secret project. Many enemies of Dr. Quest would die to get their hands on these boys.”

“What for?” Alex asked.

“Because, if anyone got their hands on the boys, Dr. Quest would do almost anything to get them back. Give up his research to the captor, pay them ransom money; the possibilities are endless!”

“Not only that, but knowing that his sons are in danger makes it very difficult for the doctor to do any work at all. It makes him practically useless.” The other guard added.

Alex was shocked. She had had no idea that these boys were so important. She thought they had been at Disney on vacation. Not because of something like this!

The first officer then picked up the phone once more, this time to talk with someone named Oswald.

After a few minutes, he hung up and said, “Go back to your room young lady, and wait until morning. Then, take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, before the park opens, if you can, and go to the Crystal Palace restaurant. There will be some people there to meet you.”

Alex nodded silently. She left the room without another word, and started down the hall, only to run straight into Dr. Quest and Race, who were on their way to the Security office.

“Oh! Dr. Quest! I’m so sorry! I really tried to stop those kidnappers, but…I just couldn’t. I’m so, so sorry!” She found herself crying into the doctor’s coat, angry with herself for letting the boys slip away. Especially now that she knew how important they were.           

As she cried, she told him all she knew about the kidnapping. Once they had finally managed to get her to calm down a little, Dr. Quest asked Race to walk her back to her room while he talked with the security officers.

They soon arrived back at Alex’s room, and after saying goodnight to Race and thanking him, she closed her door, then ran over to the bed and began to cry into the pillow.


	4. Chapter 4

Shortly before Alex’s visit to security, a group of six children and their chaperone were arriving at the Contemporary for a school-funded “field trip”.

“I can’t believe we’re actually at Disney World for a school trip. I would never have thought Prickly would let something like this happen.” The group’s leader, a short, chubby boy named T.J. said, as they stepped into the lobby.

“I know! You’d think he would have shot this down as soon as he heard the idea.” The girl next to him said, tugging at one of her jet-black pigtails.

“He only accepted because of Gretchen’s pitch; without her detailed presentation about how educational Disney World is…I don’t think we’d be here.” Another boy, Vince, said, before kneeling down to tie the laces of his basketball shoes.

“It was quite easy, really.” Gretchen, who had glasses and semi-dark red hair done in pigtails, replied. “All I had to do was talk about Epcot for half an hour, and he was sold.”

“Well, whatever you did, it worked. We’re here for two weeks!” T.J. said, excited.

“Yeah, but we have to write an essay about the cultures of the different countries of Word Showcase.” The shortest boy of the group, Gus, said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m not really looking forward to that.”

“And Ms. Grotke is following us around for the whole trip.” The pigtailed girl, Spinelli, added, glaring softly at their teacher and chaperone, who was currently checking the party in.

“That stuff _is_ kind of boring, but if it means we get to hang out at Disney World, I think the positives kinda outweigh the negatives.” T.J. replied.

“And besides, visiting World Showcase will be fun!” The tallest (and biggest) member of the group, Mikey, added with a smile. “There’s so much music and food to discover!”

“Well, you kids seem really excited!” a voice said, and the group turned to see that Ms. Grotke had finished checking them in, and was now addressing the six of them.

“Yep, we sure are!” said T.J. with a smile, as he and the others nodded their heads.

“Excellent! Well, let’s get to our rooms so and get some rest; we’ve got a lot to see and do in the next two weeks!”

“What floor are we on?” Gus asked.

“The sixth floor.” Ms. Grotke replied. “Now, come on kids; grab your luggage and let’s get going! We’re already a little behind schedule.”

She led the group of children to the elevators, herded them inside one, and then pressed the button for the sixth floor. They rode up to the floor, and when the elevator doors opened, they were greeted by quite an odd scene.

The first thing they noticed was that an anthropomorphic rabbit was there, angrily conversing with someone on a cell phone. Beside him were a couple of security guards, who were just heading into the room numbered 4247, presumably to investigate something that had happened inside. Neither the guards nor the rabbit seemed to notice the small party as they disembarked from the elevator.

“Oh dear…something must have happened. If security is here, it might be too dangerous for us to be up here right now...” Ms. Grotke said worriedly. “Hold on just a moment, kids; I’ll ask about what happened.”

She walked up to the rabbit, who was just finishing his phone call, and asked, “Um, is it…safe to be up here? We’re supposed to be staying on this floor, but if it’s too dangerous for the kids…”

“Don’t worry ma’am; it’s fine! There was just a little scuffle up here, but security is already on it. You’re good to go.”

“All right; thank you!” Ms. Grotke said with a small smile, before turning back to her charges. “Okay kids; let’s get moving! We’re just a little bit further down the hall.” She told them, gesturing for them to follow her.

The rabbit watched the group of children as they followed her down the hall. And just as they were about to follow their teacher into their rooms and get all settled for the evening, he called out and caught their attention.

“Hey…aren’t you those six kids from Third Street?” he asked, squinting at them to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.

“Uh…yes?” T.J. replied, not sure how this rabbit, whoever the heck he was, would know them. Their deeds weren’t exactly known outside of their hometown, or so he thought.

“…I need to talk to the six of you. Right now, if you please.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re here for a school trip. I don’t think we can-” Gretchen began, before being cut off by the rabbit.

“What I need to talk to you about is important. Like, life or death important. Your school won’t mind that much.”

“All right…but-”

“But nothing! Hurry up and get over here. It’ll only take a sec.”

The kids quickly snuck over to where the rabbit stood, hoping that Ms. Grotke wouldn’t notice that they hadn’t followed her into the room.

“All right long-ears, what do you want?” Spinelli asked, folding her arms and glaring at the rabbit.

“Okay, first off: my name is Oswald. Secondly…you saw the security guards go into that room over there, right?” He nodded slightly in the direction of room 4247.

“Yeah…but what does that have to do with us?” Gus asked.

“Well…there was a kidnapping. A pair of boys, around you guys’ age, maybe a little older. They were stolen out of here, and we need to figure out why.”

“Well, that certainly is life or death, I suppose. But, again…what does this have to do with us?” Gretchen asked him, repeating Gus’ question.

“I think we’ll be needing your help. See…while we’ve got security on the case, it wouldn’t hurt to have some backup. And what’s more inconspicuous than a bunch of kids?”

“Wait…what? You want **_us_** to go investigate a kidnapping?” T.J. asked. “Like…a real, high-stakes, lives are at risk, kidnapping?”

“Kind of. See…we’ve already got people looking into the how and why. What we want you to do is see if you can find out where the boys got off to.”

“That seems a little dangerous.” Vince said. “Maybe _too_ dangerous.”

“Yeah, maybe for regular kids. But I’ve heard about the six of you. About all the things you’ve done at your school. I think you can handle this.”

“Yeah…no. I don’t think so. We could, but we’re on vacation right now, mister. We don’t have time for this.”

“I know, but please: think about this. These kids are important, and they need help. And I don’t know if Walt Disney World Security will be enough.”

“Hmm…well, helping solve a kidnapping does sound like more fun than following Ms. Grotke everywhere for two weeks…” T.J. pondered aloud.

“Good point, Teej.” Spinelli nodded. “Heck, it might even be a little fun.”

“Yeah. It’s a new challenge for us.” Vince added.

“And it will give us the satisfaction of helping someone!” Mikey said.

“Yeah. I guess.” Gus said, nervously looking to the floor.

“But…we can’t just ditch Ms. Grotke! If we do, she’ll call Prickly. And then he’ll call our parents, and we’ll be grounded, or even worse: expelled.” Gretchen countered.

“We’ll just work on the case, and pretend to be doing the school stuff!” T.J. told her. “All we gotta do is make sure Grotke doesn’t find out what we’re really doing.”

“That’s the spirit!” Oswald smiled at them. “So…whaddya say? Are you in?”

The group looked at one another, then at Oswald. T.J. nodded, smiling.

“All right then! Come to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow morning, around the time the park opens. You’ll be meeting me and your partner at the Crystal Palace for breakfast. Try not to be late, okay? If you are, you’ll miss out on the briefing, and your breakfast. Okay?”

“Got it.” T.J said confidently.

Gretchen came up beside him and added, “And we’ll try not to be late.”

Oswald sighed a little, then said. “Good. Then I’ll see you all in the morning. Good night.”

* * *

A tired and glum Alex sat in the Contemporary lobby, waiting for a monorail to arrive and take her to the Magic Kingdom. Chef Mickey’s, the character restaurant of the Contemporary, was bustling with guests enjoying breakfast. It was 8:25 in the morning, and she had thirty-five minutes to be at the Magic Kingdom, so she could join whoever it was that had invited her to breakfast.

Her parents were busy packing their things for a two-week cruise that they had “magically” won. They had decided that, at fifteen, she was old enough to stay at Disney by herself, and had chosen to leave her there by herself for the two weeks that they would be gone. She wasn’t sure she would have any fun, however; her mind was still stuck on the boys, and how she had screwed up trying to save them. Her failure wouldn’t leave her alone, no matter how much she tried to ignore it.

She checked her backpack to make sure she had everything just as the monorail gilded into the Grand Canyon Concourse station. After the doors opened, she stood, and she and a few other people stepped inside.

She took a window seat as the announcer over the speakers told the guests to “Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas.” and looked out the tinted window as the same announcer began to talk about how their next destination was the Magic Kingdom. She glanced at her wrist for what seemed like the twentieth time that morning, just to be absolutely sure that she still had her MagicBand on. She hoped that she wasn’t going to be paying for this meal; otherwise, she might go hungry for the next two weeks.

Aside from the money her parents had left on the band’s account for her, she had twenty dollars in cash for snacks and emergencies. She also had her camera, phone, and a bottle of water. She wondered to herself if the boys would be alright, and hoped that maybe this person (or people) that she was meeting would be able to help her save them. _That would be nice, but they’re probably just going to tell me not to worry about it,_ she thought to herself. _And maybe it’s better that way._

After about five minutes, the magnificent Cinderella Castle came into full view. She pulled out her camera and filmed the view of the castle from the monorail. The family on the other side of the car scooted over to the window to gawk at the castle; they were all wearing “Our First Trip” buttons. After another five minutes, the monorail arrived at the entrance to the park. It was now 8:56, and a crowd was waiting to enter.

Alex figured that by the time she got up to the entrance, the park would be open to the public, so she didn’t worry herself too much about getting caught up in the rush of people. She got in the bag check line, and after her bag was checked and allowed through, she walked up to the line at the entrance, on the side closest to the stroller rental. An instrumental version of “Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah” was playing through the speakers.

The park had just opened when they caught her eye. The boys and their captors, standing just a few people ahead of her in the line.

Alex took immediate action. She pushed her way through the crowd and called out.

“Wait! Jonny, Hadji!”

Hearing her call, Horace and Jasper responded by shoving the boys through the turnstiles as quickly as possible. A few seconds after they had entered, Alex made it into the park and followed them down Main Street through a sea of tourists. She called the boys’ names several times more, and tried to attract attention to Horace and Jasper. No one was paying much mind to them, though; most guests were either headed to their favorite ride, or to the castle for the morning show.

She was soon less than a foot away from them, and she reached out grasped Jonny’s hands. She planned to get him and his brother away from Horace and Jasper, and hopefully make a break for one of the many stores. Once they were free and on the move, there was no way the pair of villains would find them among the thick crowds of people.

Jasper felt Hadji slip away. He then turned and saw Jonny leading his brother away, and Alex leading both boys towards the Confectionary.

“ _You_!” he growled, lunging toward her. He meant to grab her, but stopped short when he realized: they were in out in the open. If he pulled a stunt like that, it would not end well for him. Instead, he went for Hadji, and carefully dragged him back towards him. Jonny noticed this, and immediately left Alex’s side and went back for his brother.

Alex called after him, trying to get him to stop, but he did not listen to her. Not knowing what else to do, Alex decided to quickly pull out her phone, and snapped a photo of Jasper with the boys beside him. She could at least have photographical evidence of who was behind this whole mess.

As she was putting her phone away, Alex heard a voice from behind her.

“Well, if it isn’t the meddling little coat-ripper.” Cruella laughed as she pulled Alex away from the boys. “Horace, Jasper…keep going. I’ll take care of this little bother and meet up with you in a bit.”

“Hey… ** _hey_**! What are you doing?!” Alex asked, as Cruella took her phone from her and led her to the sidewalk. “Give that back!”

“Just a moment, dear.” Cruella said, scrolling through Alex’s photos and deleting the incriminating ones of her lackeys.

Once she had finished, she pulled Alex close to her, turned the phone sideways, extended her arm, and took a picture of herself and the girl together. Then, she returned the phone to the girl.

“A memento for you.” Cruella smiled at her, before laughing and walking away.

Alex frowned, and then straightened herself up and immediately followed after the woman, as stealthily as she could.

After following her down the rest of Main Street, Alex discovered that Cruella was headed in the direction of Adventureland. She tried her best to stay on her tail, but Alex soon found herself overwhelmed by the number of people around her, and became disoriented. Cruella continued towards Adventureland, and soon disappeared behind the loads of fake jungle plant life that surrounded the entrance.

Alex soon realized that she had lost the woman. She solemnly headed for a nearby park bench, took a seat,  and then opened her bag.

She withdrew the park map that she had picked up at the entrance, and decided to find out where, exactly, the Crystal Palace was. She decided that she might as well get back to meeting with the person that had called for her.

She scanned the map. On it, the restaurant was near the entrance to Adventureland, which was right about where she was. According to the map, it was to the left of the entrance to Adventureland; on the other side, the regal Castle stood.

Alex looked up from the map. To her left was the entrance to Adventureland and the Castle. Still not seeing the restaurant, she stood up and turned and looked the other way. Now Tommorowland’s entrance was directly across from her, and Main Street was to her right. The Crystal Palace was still nowhere in sight. She wondered if maybe this was an old map, and that the Crystal Palace had moved or something.

Then she turned around one more time, and came face to face with the Crystal Palace, a Victorian-style building that almost looked like it could have just been a greenhouse. A line of people were just outside, supposedly waiting for their party to be called. Alex immediately started for the entrance.

After the lengthy walk, she finally made it inside, to the waiting area. She sat down on one of the plush seats, and kept her eyes peeled for anyone who might be the person she was looking for. Her eyes darted around as she looked over each person. _A woman and man…nah. Some teenagers, about my age…I don’t know._ she thought. _A cat and a rabbit with a bunch of little rabbits?!_ Alex was quite surprised when saw Oswald, and his wife Ortensia the cat, with a few of their bunny children.

Each of the children were holding up a sign with different names on them. Alex’s eyes went to the small bunny child that held up a sign on which, written in an impressive mimicry of the Disney font, was her full first name.

She walked over and greeted them.

“Hi! I’m Alex. Nice sign.” She said to the bunny child.

Oswald was talking to Ortensia about how he hoped that everyone would show up for the breakfast, when he heard Alex’s greeting.

“Oh! Hi there Alex. I’m Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s first cartoon success, and Mickey Mouse’s sort-of older brother. This is my wife Ortensia, and some of our bunny children: Oswald Junior the 4th, Oswald Junior the 5th, Oswald Junior the 6th, and Oswald Junior the 7th.” Alex shook hands with Ortensia, and waved at each of the kids.

“Some?” she asked, glancing at the four tiny bunnies.

Ortensia smiled and said sweetly, “Yes. The others are over in Frontierland, riding either Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain with our friend Gus. These four don’t like thrill rides.”

“How many are over in Frontierland?”

“I’d wager about six of them. We only brought ten with us into the park, right Ozzie?”

Oswald nodded his head, his ears bouncing along with the nod. “Yeah. The ten that were good and didn’t bug Pete. He keeps puttin’ the bad ones in his homemade Juvenile Bunny Child Detention Center! That Pete, sometimes he really chaps my hide. I know the kids are troublesome, but at least let me do the punishin’. Geez.”

“Okay…” Alex looked away for a moment. “Uh…why are they all named “Oswald Junior”?” She then asked.

“It makes it easier for us. We have four hundred and twenty of them, so individual naming is pretty much impossible.”

“Oh. Wow.”

Alex turned to Oswald Junior the 5th, who had been holding the sign with her name.

“Um…who else are we waiting on? I noticed your brother and sisters are holding signs for some other people.” She said.

Oswald Junior the 5th looked over at his kin. “Looks like we’re waiting on some kids named T.J., Spinelli, Gretchen, Vince, Mikey, and Gus. I’ve never met them. My dad has though. I don’t know why he wants them here, or even you here; he doesn’t tell me all that stuff.”

“Hmm. Well…have your parents checked in yet?”

Oswald Junior the 5th hopped over to Ortensia. “Mommy, are we going to eat soon?”

Ortensia turned and looked back at the path leading up to the restaurant’s entrance, and Alex instinctively followed suit. Six kids were almost to the doorway.

“Yes, sweetie. We’ll be eating really soon.” Ortensia said to her son, smiling at him. She then walked over to her husband, and tapped him on the shoulder.

“They’re here.” she whispered to him.


	5. Chapter 5

T.J., wearing his signature reversed red baseball cap, was leading his friends towards the Crystal Palace entrance, where Alex, Oswald, Ortensia, and the bunny kids were waiting for them.

“Hey there!” He said cheerfully, once he and the rest of his group had finally made it up to the entrance. “I’m T.J, and these are my friends Spinelli, Vince, Gretchen, Mikey, and Gus.” he said, introducing them all to Alex.

She waved to them. “Hi there. I’m Alex. I guess you’re here for the same reason I am?” she asked.

“I guess so.” Spinelli said.

Oswald hopped over, and he was looking very angry. He glared at T.J. and friends, scaring them.

“You’re late!” he shouted. “I knew you’d be late! Do you know how much this meal is costing me? Hmm? Alex is able to make it on time, but the six of you had to be late!”

Ortensia came over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Ozzie, calm down, please.” She turned to the kids. “We’re still waiting on our table; we’ve already checked in, though. Sorry about Ozzie, he can be a bit temperamental.” she sighed. Then she introduced the bunny children.

“Hi there, T.J!” said Oswald Junior the 4th, who had been holding up the sign with T.J.’s name on it. “It’s really nice to meet you. My daddy, Oswald…he’s told me about all the cool stuff you guys have done!”

Alex overheard the bunny child’s comment.

“What kind of cool stuff?” she asked.

T.J. smiled and said, “Ah, you know, the usual…keeping peace on the playground, keeping the teachers and faculty in check. Just making sure our school is a fun place to be, y’know?”

“Huh. So, are you guys like…heroes, then? At your school, I mean.”

“Kind of. We just like helping people, really.”

Oswald came over to them. “Yeah. Kind of like you do, Alex! When I saw you give Horace the what-for…I was surprised.”

“Really? I was just trying to…wait; I was on video?”

“Yeah, security cameras. I saw the footage just last night. So did Mickey. He was impressed. Said that if anyone was going to get those boys back, you’d be the one!” 

“No way! Mickey Mouse saw me on video! How cool is that?” She said excitedly, looking at the others

“Pretty cool, I’d say.” Vince said, feigning interest.

Suddenly, the host called out “Oswald, party of fourteen!” and Oswald said, “That’s us! Come on guys, breakfast awaits. And so does your mission!”

They walked into the main dining room of restaurant, and suddenly, their noses were filled with the scent of warm pastries, bacon, and other breakfast assortments. Everyone looked over at the buffet, their mouths watering.

“I am so glad we picked this place Oswald,” Ortensia said, sniffing the air. “It smells delicious!” The host then led them to a nearby table with enough seats for everyone.

“I’ll go get the food for everyone,” Ortensia offered, once everyone was seated.

Oswald looked at Ortensia with big round bunny eyes and said, “Ortensiakins, you don’t have to go. They can get it themselves.”

Ortensia put her hands on her hips and said, “Ozzie, I don’t want to be a snoop in terms of what you and these kids know about this villainous plot. I might as well get the food for us. Now, what does everyone want?” Ortensia took each of the children’s orders, then left the group to fetch the food from the buffet.

“Now that we’re as alone as we can get,” Oswald began. “We’ll begin the briefing of the mission. Everyone, this is Alex. She is the witness.”

Alex looked at everyone present, and smiled awkwardly. “Uh…hi.”

“So…Alex, I suppose you’ve met T.J. and his friends? They’re going to be the other members of your team, and will help you find Jonny and Hadji. And hopefully catch the kidnappers.”

“Wait…Jonny and Hadji? As in, the sons of word-famous scientist, Dr. Benton Quest?” Gretchen asked, surprised.

“Yup.” Oswald said. “That’s who we’re looking for.”

“But…I thought that the two of them had secure government protection, so that things like this _didn’t_ happen to them.”

“They do. But you see…their father was called up here to help with a new attraction, and their bodyguard was with him for their first night on site, instead of with the boys. He helps the doctor with his work sometimes, I suppose. Anyway…I guess someone found out that the boys were unguarded, and took their chance.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate. The government should hire someone more capable of protecting the boys.”

“I met their bodyguard last night…he’s definitely capable.” Alex spoke up. “They probably just didn’t think the boys were in any danger. And why would they? This is Disney World. Bad things…don’t usually happen here.”

“Yeah, but if the guy wasn’t guarding them, he wasn’t doing his job. Plain and simple.” Spinelli countered.

Alex sighed.

“Anyway…our plan for today is to have you guys scout the park for some sign of them. We’re pretty sure that they’re somewhere around here.”

Oswald then spotted Ortensia coming over with piles of food. He got up to go help her, when Alex suddenly remembered something.

“Wait!” she called to him.

“What is it? I’m about to get our food!” Oswald huffed; he was very prone to crankiness when hungry.

“Uh…I saw the boys, on my way into the park.”

Oswald gasped in shock. “Really?! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was still trying to process it all…y’know?”

“Well…do you know who has them?”

“You won’t believe me if I tell you.”

“Try me.”

“It’s…Cruella DeVil.”

“Cruella DeVil? What in the world would she want with Dr. Quest’s boys?” Oswald said to himself. To Alex, he said, “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I even have a picture, to prove it.”

She pulled out her phone and showed him the photo Cruella had taken. Oswald studied it for a moment, frowned, and then looked back up at Alex with one eyebrow raised.

“You’re not just messin’ with me…are you? ‘Cause if you are…”

“I’m not! See…I took a picture of her and her guys with the boys, but then she took my phone and deleted it. And then she took that picture, and…laughed at me.”

“All right…this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I’m going to trust you. This better not be some kind of prank.”

“It isn’t! I wouldn’t joke about this kind of thing.”

“Okay. Do you know where Cruella and her boys took Jonny and Hadji?”

“I saw Cruella head for Adventureland. I guess they’re somewhere in there? I’m not sure.”

“Well…it sounds completely crazy…but at least we have a lead.” The rabbit said with a small sigh.

Oswald then noticed that Ortensia, who was still working to balance the food she had with her, was beginning to wobble.

“Better get over there and help my pretty kitty.” Oswald said with a small smile.

Soon, there were plates of every food item the buffet had to offer on the table. Muffins, pancakes, cheese sticks, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, waffles, bacon, and much more. Everyone filled up their plates with the goodies as all the Hundred Acre Wood characters, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger, came by for a visit.

Alex, meanwhile, looked at her “team”, and frowned. _Well this is going to be fun._ She thought, rolling her eyes. _My “team” is a bunch of ten year-olds. That will totally be helpful._

Over at their side of the table, T.J. and company were sharing their own thoughts about her.

“They’re giving us a babysitter! I can’t believe this!” Spinelli whispered loudly, hoping that Alex wouldn’t hear.

“I know! We don’t need her; we could do it all by ourselves.” Vince agreed.

“Yeah!” T.J. huffed. “I had a plan worked out and everything! I thought she was just the witness.”

“Oswald did say we were getting a partner.” Gus said quietly.

“Yes, he did.” Gretchen said. “And we do need someone older watching us. They probably don’t want a bunch of ten year-olds running rampant around a theme park. Remember what happened at GonzoLand last year?”

“Oh, yeah. He probably heard about that.” T.J. said, glancing downward.

“And everything else we’ve done. Oswald must have our records.”

“Well, Alex seems nice to me. I’m sure everything will go just fine! We’ll save those boys, and everyone will be happy!” Mikey said with a smile.

“Dream on.” Spinelli grumbled.

“Spin’s right. All teenage girls are the same. They’re boy crazy, and are all about makeup, boy bands, and weird clothes. Like my sister, Becky.” T.J. said.

“And Oswald already thinks she’s better than us.” Spinelli added.

“Well, we’re stuck with her. We’ll just have to make the best of it.” Gretchen said. “But…we should at least try getting to know her.”

“Later. Right now, let’s eat!”


	6. Chapter 6

“You did say Adventureland, right?” Oswald asked. They had finished their breakfast, and were now off to start their mission.

Alex looked at him, rolling her eyes. “That’s the fifth time I’ve told you Oswald. Yes, I saw her go to Adventureland! Do you know where they could be in there?”

“Yeah, I think I know where. Jungle Cruise. It’s down for “unknown” reasons. But, I think I know exactly why. They need a holding area, somewhere they know nobody would look.” Oswald explained.

“What about Cast Members? They have permission to look!” Gretchen said.

“I’ve heard through the grapevine that a few of them might be working for the kidnappers, and they probably won’t be blabbing anytime soon.”

He led them towards the Adventureland entrance bridge, and then he stopped. “I can’t go any further with you, for security reasons, but I have some stuff that will help you out. Cast Member ID’s. They’ll help you get into Cast Member only areas, sometimes even help you start closed rides. They have each of your pictures. Just…don’t reveal your ages. Try to act like you’re all 18.”

“Yeah, like we can do that.” Spinelli scoffed.

“What about when we have the boys with us?” Alex asked.

“I have passes for them, don’t worry. Just don’t let any Cast Members spot you, unless they have a pin of me. If they’re wearing one, they work with me and they’ll take care of any problems you may have. If they’re around, that is; you can’t call them for help.” Oswald continued.

“Can we call you?” Gus asked.

“Of course! Now, be careful, okay?” He handed Alex a piece of paper with his number.

“Okay,” they all replied.

“Well, good luck!”

He waved goodbye to them and watched as they headed into Adventureland.

* * *

The group of kids entered the bazaar area, which contained a semi-outdoor gift shop, the Swiss Family Treehouse, and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride. Jungle Cruise was down a short set of steps, just beyond the Treehouse.

“Do you guys think Oswald is right? That they’re really in Jungle Cruise?” Alex asked as they walked along.

“He’s got to be right. He has security cameras he can use.” T.J. replied.

Alex was not convinced. “What if he doesn’t? Maybe the bad guys are controlling the cameras.”

“Maybe they are!” T.J. huffed in reply. “I don’t know. All I know is that all we can really do right now is trust Oswald.”

“…I guess you’re right.” Alex shrugged. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Jafar was at the Jungle Cruise loading dock with Horace and Jasper, who held onto the boys. A boat had been pulled up for them, and was waiting, empty, for them to shove off.

“Get in the boat!” the sorcerer commanded, pointing to the boat. After Horace let go of him, Hadji reluctantly got in, feeling that it was probably best not to disobey him. However, after Jasper turned him loose…Jonny stayed put on the dock.

“No way.” he said stubbornly.

“Didn’t you hear me, boy? I said, **_get in the boat_**!” Jafar snapped.

Jonny just stood there, looking  away from him and not saying a word. Jafar knew that just telling him wasn’t going to work. He would have to act.

“Horace,” he said to the goon.

Horace tripped into the boat and grabbed hold of Hadji, pulling him over to the edge of the boat.

“Hey, wait a sec!” Jonny yelled at Horace, who was now holding Hadji over the edge of the boat, where a pair of not-so-animatronic crocs came up from the water and opened their jaws. Hadji was about to take a swim with the crocodiles.

Jafar cackled wickedly. “Get in the boat, or your friend will take a…rather unpleasant swim.”

Instead of listening to him, Jonny jumped into the water and yelled, “Haj! Jump!”, landing a few feet away from the vicious beasts. Hadji, after pulling himself free, followed suit.

“Get them! Don’t let them swim away!” Jafar yelled, as Jonny and Hadji paddled away from the docks and boat. Jasper jumped in after them, but didn’t realize that the crocs were still waiting nearby. He screamed in surprise as the beasts snapped their jaws at the seat of his pants.

“Aagh! Get away you crazy crocs!” he yelled, as the creatures continued to snap their jaws. The boys, who were now resting safely on some nearby rocks, laughed at Jasper’s predicament.

“What’re you laughing at, you little brats? How you’d like to be snapped at by a bunch of nasty crocs? Huh?” he yelled at them.

Jafar, meanwhile, was holding his staff high and preparing a spell. Suddenly, one of the life preservers from the boat flew over and hooked onto Jasper, who grabbed onto Jonny’s shirt, which caused Jonny to instinctively grab Hadji’s hand. The enchanted preserver then pulled them all safely back onto the boat.

As soon as they were all aboard, Jafar had some ropes from the docks wrap up around the boys, tying them up securely.

“There we are.” he said with a grin. “Now that everyone is comfortable, we can finally shove off.” With a wave of his staff, the boat began moving. Jafar then looked over at Jasper, who was sopping wet and in enormous pain.

“You little brat!” Jasper yelled at Jonny, as he wiped himself off with a towel that Horace had handed him. “You’re gonna pay for this!”

Jafar rolled his eyes.” Oh, calm down, you fool. It’s only a few tears on your pants.”

“My brand new pants! These cost me a pretty penny! I’ll probably have to save for another year to get a new pair.”

Jafar smiled. “Well…if you help me, you’ll never have to worry about paying for anything ever again. Now, just keep a close watch on these boys, until we reach our stop.” he ordered.

Their boat chugged along the path, disappearing into the jungle.


	7. Chapter 7

Alex tried to think positive about the whole thing. She tried to banish the thought of what might happen to the boys, although it constantly returned to her as they got ever closer to Jungle Cruise. She felt that she was no help to the boys now, what with the ragtag team she had.

The rest of the group, however, had no idea why Alex was so despondent. They were completely confounded by it.

“It’s probably just some teenage emotional crisis.” Gretchen said to the others. “Many teenagers are prone to it.”

“Yeah. That kinda stuff happens to Becky all the time.” T.J. said.

“It is **_not_** an emotional crisis!” Alex snapped after overhearing them. “I’m just upset, because I really doubt that we’ll be able to save Jonny and Hadji.”

“How come?” asked Gus.

“You’re all ten! How much could you do?”

“Hey! We’ve rescued our school hundreds of times!” Spinelli snapped. “I bet you’ve never saved anyone in your life!”

“No, I haven’t. But…I want to try.”

“All right, I guess you can _help_...” T.J. said. “But you should let us handle the planning, and all the other important junk. We know how to do all that.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I guess I’ll just have to see about that.” And with that, Alex turned away from them and walked a few feet ahead.

“She thinks she’s so great, just because she’s older than us.” Spinelli grumbled.

“We’ll show her who can save those guys, right gang?” T.J. asked his team.

“Yeah!” came the reply.

They quickly followed Alex towards Jungle Cruise, ready to show her what they were made of.

* * *

By the time the boat had reached their destination, Jasper had just about had enough. At the moment, he wanted to throw the boys off of the boat and be done with them, but doing that would eventually result in him facing Maleficent’s wrath, and that was something he was not about to do. So, he stayed quiet and sulked to himself.

Jonny and Hadji, who were still tied up on the boat, had kept quiet to protect themselves from the sorcerer who currently held them captive. They didn’t know anything about him, and after seeing what he was capable of, they had decided not to chance anything, keeping their mouths shut and listening closely.

Soon, the boat came to a stop, right beside the infamous snake tree. Jafar began another spell, and the ropes around Hadji came undone. Horace gleefully pulled him up, although Hadji fought against him with all his might.

“Hey! What’re you doing to him?” Jonny asked. Horace ignored him, and turned to Jafar, ready for his next command.

“Wake up the snake.”

Horace left Hadji on the deck of the boat, jumped out, and began sloshing through the water to get to the tree. When he made it to the top, he found not the usual diamond-patterned snake from the ride, but Kaa, fast asleep.

Horace splashed a bit of water onto the snake. Kaa awoke with a start.

"Who was that?" he hissed.

Horace grinned. "Um, good morning!" he said to the snake, before turning back to the boat to give Jafar the thumbs up. He then turned to look at Hadji.

“You will climb the tree. If you do not, you will never see your brother again.”

“All right, I’ll go. But don’t hurt him.” Hadji said, as he climbed out of the boat, then sloshed over to and climbed the tree. As he did, Kaa began his infamous hypnotic song.

" _Trust in me_ , _just in me_."

Hadji, who knew quite a bit about hypnotism himself, knew just what to do. He shut his eyes and then pretended to fall under the snake’s spell. This managed to convince everyone on the boat that the plan was working.

"By Jove!" Jasper said, watching Kaa as he helped Horace climb back into the boat. "He might actually be **hypnotizing** something for a change!"

While the villains grinned in delight, Jonny's face grew paler by the minute as he prayed silently that his brother would come out of this alive.

Jafar grinned a little; his plan was working.

* * *

With Alex in the lead, the group approached the entrance to Jungle Cruise. A sign at the entrance informed regular guests that the ride was down for refurbishment. However, this group of seven children were not "regular" guests. At least, not today. Although they looked to be on vacation, today they were on a mission; they were undercover agents, so to speak.

Two Cast Members, neither of them wearing Oswald's pin, were standing in front of the ride to confirm that it was down.

"Well, how are we going to get in with **those guys** standing there, huh “Captain”?" Spinelli asked, looking at Alex challengingly.

The older girl was still annoyed with this band of cocky kids, but knew that she had a job to try and do. She ignored Spinelli’s smug comment and said, "Well… those two might work for our kidnappers, so…we'll probably have to distract them and get them **away** from the entrance so that we can get in." She sighed a little. “That’s badly worded, but you get the gist.”

Meanwhile, T.J. eyed the nearby Agrabah Bazaar shop.

“I have a plan." he began, pulling his group into a huddle. "Spinelli will walk over to the store and ask the cashier guy about the junk they sell, while Vince "borrows" one of the wooden carvings, puts it nearby, and then runs off, with Spin following behind him. Then Gus goes over to the Jungle Cruise and tells the guys guarding it that he saw someone steal something at the store. Then they’ll _probably_ go over to check it, while we sneak into the ride.”

“That’s…not a bad idea.” Alex admitted, after listening to their little plan. “Go ahead.”

Quickly, they got into position. Spinelli and Vince at the store, and Gus standing somewhere between the ride and the store, close enough to see what was going on.

"What toys do you have here?" Spinelli asked the cashier. He went to help her find the toys, while Vince picked up a tiki carving and placed it over at a nearby bench. Then he ran back to the group with Spinelli, and Gus went over to the Cast Members, flailing his arms and putting on his best "Come quick, it's urgent" look. As T.J. had hoped, the Cast Members went over to investigate, after getting the story out of Gus.    

"Good job guys!" Alex said, her tone suddenly much happier.

“What’re you so happy about?” Spinelli asked her as they walked into the ride queue.

“I’m impressed. We might actually have a chance.” Alex replied coolly. “A small one, but still a chance.”

After winding their way through the long but empty queue, they boarded a boat that had been pulled up by a Cast Member wearing Oswald's pin. Alex thanked him, and they were soon on their way.

“Okay…since I don’t know you guys yet, I guess we should all just do our own thing? Does that sound okay?” Alex asked.

The group nodded in reply. T.J. and co. quickly set up a plan of their own and Alex planned her own moves.

 _This would be a lot easier if I knew what their plan was._ She thought to herself. _I wish we could get along; even just a little bit. They might be kids, but they know what they’re doing. And I want to help them._

* * *

"Now boy," Jafar said, giving Jonny a smile that was as faux as the scenery around them. "All you have to do is comply with our wishes. If you do so, we won't harm your brother."

Jonny looked at him, and then at Hadji, who was still sitting precariously up in the tree. He decided to agree, only doing so to see if perhaps he might be able to get Hadji back safely and make a quick escape before having to do anything that was asked of him.

"All right, fine." he began, "But tell that snake to quit hypnotizing Hadji, and let him climb down.”

Jafar shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no. You must do what I ask of you before I can do that." he said.

"No way! If you don’t let Hadji go, then you’re never getting my help." he said, turning away from the sorcerer and folding his arms. 

"All right then, have it your way I suppose." he said. "Kaa, you are free to do whatever you like with him." He told the snake.

Kaa grinned and then opened his mouth wide in hopes of biting Hadji, but froze when he saw the boy open his eyes, wink at him, and then start climbing down the tree.

"Run Hadji! Go find Dad and Race!" Jonny urged. And Hadji jumped from the tree and sloshed for his life. At least until the crocodiles, under Jafar’s command, surrounded him.                                                                                                      

"You see the crocodiles, correct?" Jafar said to Hadji, as he pressed his staff to Jonny's neck. "And you see where my staff is? If you don't get back up into that tree with the snake, your friend will **_die_**!" he shouted.

"Do not hurt him! I’ll go back." Hadji said reluctantly as he began to scale the tree again. Jafar smiled. He removed his staff from Jonny’s neck, and the boy backed away from him a little. Jafar then turned to face Jonny.

"Now, do as I say, or else!" he demanded, pointing to the tree.

"Okay, fine! But remember, you have to let him go!" he said.

"Of course, of course!” Jafar said. “Now-”

Suddenly, the boat shook.

"I don't think this deal is necessary," came T.J.'s voice from behind. The kids’ boat had bumped into the villains' boat, causing the tremor. Jafar turned around and gaped.

“What on earth?!” he gasped. A group of children was just about the last thing he had expected to see coming to stop him.

"Horace, Jasper! You buffoons! Get them!" Jafar ordered, and the henchman sprang into action.

The kids took this as a signal, and each of them began doing their own thing, just as they had planned. Gretchen, T.J., and Gus stayed behind on the boat to keep it from being stolen. Alex headed over to untie Jonny, while Spinelli, Mikey, and Vince grabbed some rope and headed to the tree. The three of them were nearly there, when Jasper suddenly cut them off. They grappled with each other.

Meanwhile, Alex, who had had to push him several times before getting him to fall over, had managed to knock Horace into the water. She was not very skilled in battle, or very strong, but she kept going. She had only one thing in mind: rescue the boys. Nothing else mattered. Currently, she was struggling with the tight tangle of knots that kept Jonny bound.

Jafar began another spell, but was tackled out of nowhere by Spinelli, who had left Vince, Mikey, and Hadji to take care of the snake and Jasper.

"Don't even try that!" the small girl warned as she hooked her arms firmly around Jafar’s neck. It took some physical effort on his part, but the sorcerer eventually threw her off.

With a final tug, the knots Alex had been working on finally came undone. Jonny, now freed, got up and after brushing himself off, said, "Thanks."

Alex smiled. "No problem." she replied. "Now let's get Hadji and the others and get out of here!" They jumped overboard, and headed over to the tree to meet up with the other half of their little group. They found that Kaa had been knocked out, and Hadji was slowly being lowered from the tree to safety by Vince, with Mikey receiving him below.

"Who took care of him?" Alex asked, gesturing to the snake. Spinelli grinned as she came up next to them.

"We were having trouble getting Kaa to change his mind, so Spinelli just went ahead and bashed the snake on the head with her fist a few times.” Vince explained.

“Before I went after twisty beard, of course." The girl added.

"Well…he's been taken care of, then. I guess. What about Jasper?" Alex asked.

Spinelli wordlessly confessed, pointing to Kaa. Alex noticed that he was wrapped around Jasper, who also looked to be out cold. The kids shared a small laugh.

“I’m glad that’s over. Now to deal with- Wait! Where is he?” T.J. looked around from his spot on the bow of their boat. There was no sign of Jafar anywhere.

“Gosh!” Jonny said. “He’s gone!”

“Well, wherever he went…he’s a chicken.” Spinelli said as she climbed back into their boat.

“Yeah. Some powerful sorcerer; he was nothing.” Vince added with a small laugh, as he followed after her. “Lawson puts up more of a challenge than that.”

“That seemed way too easy…” Gretchen mused aloud, as she started the boat back up.

Once all of T.J.’s group was back on board, Alex climbed into the boat and pulled Jonny up after her.

“You okay?” she asked him.

“Fine.” He smiled back. “How about you, Haj?” He turned to help his brother get in.

“I’m doing perfectly fine, Jonny.” Came the reply.

“Good. You’re both safe, and that’s all that matters. Oswald can have Jafar taken care of…probably.” Alex said, relieved.

But in the back of her mind, there was a part of her that was still worried. Gretchen _was_ right; the fight had been way too easy. _What if Jafar shows up again?_ The thought made her shudder a little.

She did her best to ignore it for now, though. The possibility of Jafar coming back was the least of their worries, after all.


End file.
